The Trump Administration was initially reticent. Then Trump indicated last week that he would take no action, as Khashoggi was a permanent resident and a citizen of the US — and as he did not want to lose a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, announced during Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May 2017.

Over the weekend, Trump spoke of “severe punishment” if the Saudi monarchy was found responsible. However, after a 20-minute phone call with King Salman on Monday, he deflected blame onto “rogue killers”.

On Tuesday, he made clear his backing of the King and his son the Crown Prince: “Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent.”

The comment was a clear echo of Trump’s defense this autumn of his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, accused by three women of sexual assaults in the 1980s. The Republican leadership finally pushed through Kavanaugh’s confirmation earlier this month, without a full investigation of the claims.

Trump’s support of the Saudi monarchy came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh. He smiled and shooking hands with Mohammed bin Salman and, in a statement, twice thanked the King — including for a supposed promise of a “thorough, transparent, and timely investigation” into Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Turkish authorities were finally allowed into the Saudi Consulate on Monday night for a nine-hour inspection, but only after a cleaning crew had entered the premises earlier in the day. Turkish officials said yesterday that they had evidence of an attempt to cover up a crime scene. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters that investigators are looking into “toxic materials, and those materials being removed by painting them over”.

Meanwhile, several Saudi suspects named by Turkey are close to the Crown Prince. One is a frequent companion, inlcuding on trips to the US, France, and Spain. Three others are linked to Mohammad bin Salman’s security detail.

A fifth is a forensic doctor who holds a senior position in the Interior Ministry.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that it has confirmed independently that at least nine of the 15 Saudi suspects have worked for the Saudi security services, military, or other government ministries. One of them, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, is a diplomat who was assigned to the Saudi Embassy in London and who has traveled extensively with the Crown Prince.

The Washington Post, for whom Khashoggi was a columnist, said 11 of the 15 suspects are part of the Saudi security services. It cites Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, a member of the Saudi Royal Guard who has accompanied King Salman and Mohammad bin Salman on US trips.

But none of the claims are likely to shake Trump. After Pompeo’s meeting with the King and Crown Prince, the President tweeted:

Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo…

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About The Author

Scott Lucas is Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham and editor-in-chief of EA WorldView. He is a specialist in US and British foreign policy and international relations, especially the Middle East and Iran. Formerly he worked as a journalist in the US, writing for newspapers including the Guardian and The Independent and was an essayist for The New Statesman before he founded EA WorldView in November 2008.

2 Comments

nonayobiz on October 18, 2018 at 03:36

Turkey wants to play both sides, they want to be the head of the Muslim Brotherhood that is buddies with Iran and enemy of Israel and the Arabs, while they also want to be a NATO state and on good terms with America Israel and the Arabs.

This whole khashogi thing is a ploy right now to break Trump away from the Saudis and so he loses all the money Saudi has invested in him. This would cause the Democrats to possibly gain an advantage in the midterm elections and thus they can work on removing him now or in the next election 2.5 years from now. The Qataris with their deep pockets are paying for it all of course, as their regional goal was not realized since all the arab states led by KSA clamped down on them in 2017 finally.

Khashogi has a fiance that his children dont know about? She also tweeted his incorrect birthday as her last tweet? The supposed hitman team is composed of 15 random Saudis, 2 of them have been deceased for 2 years. The others havent entered Turkey since 2016 and had come with family originally. The picture are of a private plane entering with them but the pictures of them at the visa area are in the main international airport, not the side of the airport for private planes. Khashogi had visited the KSA embassy in Virginia several times months before when he was living in Virginia and had cordial relations with the ambassador there. His supposed fiance is a Turkish woman with connections to Erdogans party and speaks arabic and is known friends to Qatari Journalists who are connected to the Qatari royal fam (she is an agent). There are supposed tapes heard from inside the embassy of him being tortured, but no one is allowed to hear them , you are just supposed to believe they exist and have been heard (blind faith). Khashogi was supposedly cut up and removed, yet a 20 man investigation team with police dogs searched the consulate and the house of the consulate for 9 hours yesterday and found no body or blood stains, or new paint to cover up something.

Media lies and speculation has destroyed the innocent until proven guilty motto. Even Reuters reported that the Consulate staff has been fired, which turned out to be untrue but just keeps this whole bullocks news plot alive. Where is the professionalism in journalism when reporting quotes from anonymous sources and even more sad reporting anonymous sources quoting other anonymous sources.

“Turkey wants to play both sides, they want to be the head of the Muslim Brotherhood that is buddies with Iran and enemy of Israel and the Arabs, while they also want to be a NATO state and on good terms with America Israel and the Arabs.”

So what? All countries play both sides. The Saudia are backing Al Qaeda and Taliban whike wanting to remain under the protection of the US. Russia maintain diplomatic and military alliances with both Israel and Iran. Israel were backing Iran in the Iran/Iraq war while the US backed Iraq. The US has always played both sides in conflicts.

“This whole khashogi thing is a ploy right now to break Trump away from the Saudis and so he loses all the money Saudi has invested in him.”

Actually the khashoggi thing is a massive miscalculation by MBS who believed his relationship with Trump.granted him compleye immunity from criticisms or accountability.

You keep.harping on about how this is all the fault of the Qataris and their deep pockets, when the reality is that the Saudis pockets are even deeper.

The KSA blockade of Qatar was a complete and utter failure, with everything. Washingnton telling the KSA to cut it out. Qatar didn’t even suffer a minor inconvenience.

“Khashogi has a fiance that his children dont know about?”

Even if true (likely false news) irrelevant. The official news says Khashoggi went to the embassy for a document in relation to his impending wedding. The Saudis have not said anything to contract that.

“She also tweeted his incorrect birthday as her last tweet?”

Big deal. Maybe he lied to her about his age.

“The supposed hitman team is composed of 15 random Saudis, 2 of them have been deceased for 2 years.”

Ransom? Nothing random about MBS’s own personal bodyguard. Nothing random about the autopsy specialist who is famous for boasting about his ability to dissect a body in 7 minutes. Nothing random about planes being chartered and the passengers making their way to the Saudi Embassy wielding a bone saw. Nothing random about how they were allowed to enter the embassy and murder Kasjoggo then use the premises to dissect his body.

“The others havent entered Turkey since 2016 and had come with family originally.”

They clearly DID enter in October 2018 via privately chartered jets used to hide their movements. What’s more, they were likely using fake passports and IDs issued to them under order from MBS.

“The picture are of a private plane entering with them but the pictures of them at the visa area are in the main international airport, not the side of the airport for private planes. ”

Wrong. The pictures show them outside, not in any terminal. They went straight from the private planes to the cars waiting for them.

“Khashogi had visited the KSA embassy in Virginia several times months before when he was living in Virginia and had cordial relations with the ambassador there.”

All that proves is that as stupid and clueless as MBS is, he wasn’t stupid enough to order the hit on US soil. What’s more the logistics of organising such a hit on US soil would have been far more difficult.

“His supposed fiance is a Turkish woman with connections to Erdogans party and speaks arabic and is known friends to Qatari Journalists who are connected to the Qatari royal fam (she is an agent).”

Irrelevant to the fact the MBS had him murdered in Istanbul.

“There are supposed tapes heard from inside the embassy of him being tortured, but no one is allowed to hear them , you are just supposed to believe they exist and have been heard (blind faith).”

Cut deflection. Saudi news has already admitted Khashoggi was killed in the embassy in Instanbul. This is after the Saudis claimed that 1. He had left the embassy the day after he entered it 2. Their CCTV cameras had stopped working 3. Their CCTV equipment only provided live feeds and did not record to video tape 4. They have not bothered to explain what happened to his body after the supposed fight broke out that led to his death

“Khashogi was supposedly cut up and removed, yet a 20 man investigation team with police dogs searched the consulate and the house of the consulate for 9 hours yesterday and found no body or blood stains, or new paint to cover up something.”

Fine so where is the body? The Saudis have finally admitted Khashoggi died in the embassy so what happened to his body? All they had to do was show the corpse to the Turkish officials and allow an autopsy to be conducted – one preferable that did not end up with his body cut up into bite sized pieces.

The only and speculation have been the ones from the Saudis, who are changing their story from one day to the next.

Don’t expect anyone here to fall for your pearl clutching over journalistic integrity while you spin propaganda on behalf of a murderous, medieval and savage regime.

But rest assured, we will all enjoy watching the innevitable collapse of the House of Saud.